444 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
in north China, as well as in southern and western Europe, but 
the Japanese form appears to be a resident, and to be, to all 
intents and purposes, identical with the resident form of Europe. 
The white spots, both on the upper and under parts, and on the 
ends of the tail-feathers, are rather more developed in the Japanese 
birds than in the resident European ones, but not so much so as 
in examples from Siberia.” 
My material is not sufficient to solve the puzzle entirely, but 
I think it is large enough to show that Mr. Seebohm’s theory is 
not well founded. But before examining my material I must, 
from a general standpoint, protest against the terms “arctic 
form” and “temperate form,” used by Mr. Seebohni. In the 
first place, the Nutcracker is not an “arctic” bird. In Europe 
it occurs, more or less, stationary from Spain (roughly, 42° N. 
latitude*) to northern Norway (about 64° N. latitude). In north- 
western Russia the typical form hardly extends so far north, while 
farther east the slender-billed race is not known to occur north 
of 62° north latitude, and the southern limit of its breeding range 
in the Ural seems to be about 62° north latitude. In Asia the 
latter has been found by Mr. Seebohm himself in the valley of 
the Yenisej, as far north as 67°, though farther east it hardly 
exceeds the 64th degree of latitude. The southern limit of its 
breeding range in western Asia seems to be the Tian-Shan, { 
consequently about 40° N. latitude, while in the extreme Kast 
slender-billed birds have been found in summer, at least as far 
south as 38° N. latitude. It will be seen that the distribution of 
the Siberian form, on the whole, is not more arctic than its 
western representative, if we regard the latitudes alone. But the 
adjectives—-“ arctic” for the former and “temperate” for the 
latter—are not better founded if, by such a nomenclature, we 
would indicate the relative distribution of the two forms where 


** Blasius, as quoted above, states that it breeds in the Pyrenees; but 
according to Dr. Companyo, in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe’ (iv. p. 458), it 
is only a rare bird in the Eastern Pyrenees, while Arévalo y Baca (‘ Aves de 
Espana,’ Madrid, 1887, p. 260) expressly says that it occurs only acci- 
dentally in Spain. In Italy, according to Gigioli (‘ Avif. Ital.,’ 1886, p. 13) 
and Salvadori (‘ Uce. Ital.,’ 1887, p. 189), the Nutcracker is stationary only 
in the Alps. 
+ Nazarow, ‘ Rech. Zool. Steppes Kirguiz,’ 1886, p. 31. 
t Zeverzow, ‘ Journ. f. Orn.,’ 1875, p. 172. 
